Bob Goodlatte: Fixing a badly broken ethanol policy

AFP

Common sense would tell you that if something is broken, it should be fixed. However, once again common sense has not prevailed within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Just a few days ago, the EPA denied a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for this year. The EPA’s decision to deny much-needed relief to American livestock producers, food producers, and consumers was extremely disappointing. With a steep decline in corn production this year and a sharp increase in corn prices, the economic harm of the RFS is undeniable.

Chris Graham: Mike London’s text, Matt Schaub’s tweets

Chris Graham

Remember when I speculated postgame that Mike London, when asked about his baffling endgame strategy that had him saving two timeouts to use to ice Virginia Tech kicker Cody Journell on the game’s final play, rather than deploying the timeouts to give his team anywhere from 55 seconds to a minute to try to come up with a tying score, would say that he had given up on his offense?

Chris Graham: Ye, Mike London, of little faith

Chris Graham

Here’s what’s going through Mike London’s head as the clock continued to tick in the closing moments in Lane Stadium Saturday. No way our offense can move the ball. And even if we move the ball, no way our kicker makes a kick. That’s why I tried that ridiculous fake field goal in the third quarter up a touchdown with the momentum going our way. Best thing we can do here is let the clock run down, hope he misses it, and then we go to overtime.

Border specialists intercept world’s most destructive pests at Port of Norfolk

AFP

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists at the Port of Norfolk recently discovered dead larva and cast skins of the Khapra beetle in a shipment of rice from United Arab Emirates, the second time this invasive pest has been discovered at the port. The shipment was diverted to Norfolk from Newark due to hurricane Sandy.

Teven Jones a big part of turnaround for ‘Hoos

Chris Graham

It was a small sample size, admittedly, but through three games, two of them ugly losses, and a stretch that saw Virginia average 54 points per contest, it was looking like a lost season in the making for Coach Tony Bennett. Enter Teven Jones, a redshirt freshman from Fishburne Military School, who had to sit out the opener, a 63-59 loss to George Mason, for an undisclosed violation of team rules, then Virginia’s split of its first two games in the Preseason NIT with a pinched nerve that had threatened to put him on the shelf for an extended period of time.